


Four Things That (Could Have) Happened in Druya's Temple

by Trobadora



Category: Rai-Kirah - Carol Berg
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-24
Updated: 2010-12-24
Packaged: 2017-10-14 01:40:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/143961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trobadora/pseuds/Trobadora
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Many things are possible in Druya's temple.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Four Things That (Could Have) Happened in Druya's Temple

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Esteliel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Esteliel/gifts).



> You asked for a version of the temple scene in which Seyonne didn't get away. Here are several. ;)

> _"That is the only choice that remains to you. Surrender or die." His warrior's skills were not honed with melydda, but they were very good. He was no more than five steps away from me, and he knew very well where I was._
> 
> _"I'm sorry, my lord. I can do neither one right now."_
> 
> (Carol Berg, _Revelation_ , Chapter 17)

Many things are possible in Druya's temple. This is how it goes -

> 1.
> 
> "I'm sorry, my lord. I can do neither one right now." I began to sweep my hand in a circle, ready to - -
> 
> My hand sank down, the gesture aborted. Pain was blossoming in my chest. I looked down. A dagger protruded from my heart, thrown with deadly accuracy. Despite the pitch dark, despite the fact that Aleksander had no melydda at all, it had hit its target perfectly.
> 
> I'd underestimated him again. His anger, his resourcefulness. His sheer lethal determination. Despite myself, I was impressed.
> 
> I swayed and fell. There was nothing in my mind but emptiness. I had failed. Failed everyone - my son, my people, Blaise, Fiona, Lydia - all of them, and most of all Aleksander.
> 
> Aleksander, who had slain me.
> 
> A torch flashed then, and the last thing I saw were his eyes, furious and amber, with not a shred of mercy in them.

Or this is how it goes -

> 2.
> 
> "I'm sorry, my lord. I can do neither one right now." I swept my hand in a circle, but before I could complete the gesture, something slapped a painful circle around my wrist. A whip. He had not even moved it before; my senses, melydda-sharpened, would have picked up on the sound. I had underestimated him, despite everything; I felt curiously proud.
> 
> In that same moment, my melydda-honed senses heard the faint sound of a blade being drawn -
> 
> \- Fiona, throwing a dagger at Aleksander in my defence -
> 
> \- trying to save me -
> 
> \- no, no, not this, she didn't know, couldn't understand - -
> 
> It took no thought at all to throw myself in its way. The blade hit me in the side, and for a moment the world seemed to be spinning around me. I crumpled to the floor.
> 
> Aleksander was safe.
> 
> Faintly, from a distance, I thought I heard Fiona's voice: "Sweet Verdonne. He _does_ still own you."
> 
> Then there was nothing more.

Or this is how it goes -

> 3.
> 
> _"I'm sorry, my lord. I can do neither one right now." I swept my hand in a circle, and an explosion of fire swept through the temple, setting every bell to jangling and tinkling until one might think an earthquake had set up housekeeping inside the place. I ran for the alcove, but Fiona was already ahead of me. We streaked for the back exit, hiding behind a pillar as Aleksander's soldiers ran to his rescue. While they were still blinded by the brilliance of the light and distracted by the cacophony of the bells, we ran right past them into the night, and we didn't stop until we were deep in the poorest quarter of the capital city._
> 
> (Carol Berg, _Revelation_ , Chapter 17)

Or this is how it goes -

> 4.
> 
> "I'm sorry, my lord. I can do neither one right now." I swept my hand in a circle, but before I could complete the gesture, something slapped a painful circle around my wrist. A whip. He had not even moved it before; my senses, melydda-sharpened, would have picked up on the sound. I had underestimated him, despite everything; I felt curiously proud.
> 
> Aleksander yanked. I stumbled, falling forward, to the floor in front of him. His sword was at my throat, the whip still clenched in his other hand. I blinked up at him. His figure was barely outlined in the darkness.
> 
> I held perfectly still for the longest time, much like I had when he'd been transformed into a shengar, the giant cat breathing down my neck, screaming its fury at me. I was in far more danger this time.
> 
> "My _horses_ , Seyonne," Aleksander hissed. "Everything else I could have forgiven. For anything else, I might have believed your lies. But this -"
> 
> I knew. I had attempted to warn Blaise, but the stubborn fool had no understanding of what their horses meant to the Derzhi. And Aleksander had no concept of anyone _not_ grasping that simple truth, that there was nothing, _nothing_ more important than a warrior's horses, and an Emperor whose horses were stolen was a laughingstock.
> 
> I had done the one thing that was truly unforgivable to a Derzhi.
> 
> Suddenly - for the first time - I was truly afraid of him, afraid as I hadn't been when he'd beaten me nearly to death. Then, I had only been an insignificant slave; he might kill me, but there was nothing personal about it. Now, I was a traitor to him, of the worst kind. He would spare no efforts in devising a fitting punishment for me, above and beyond any imagined before.
> 
> I had failed in my quest almost before it had truly begun. Despairingly I thought of Blaise, of my own son and all like him. Everything I'd meant to accomplish, everyone I'd failed.
> 
> Fiona, who must still be hiding in the alcove at the back of the temple.
> 
> I prayed she would do nothing rash. I prayed ...
> 
> Oh, sweet Verdonne ... There was nothing I could do to save myself now. But perhaps there was still hope for everyone else.
> 
> "My lord," I whispered hoarsely into the dark, up at the barely outlined figure of Aleksander. "I won't beg for mercy; I know you have none left. But please, if only for what you once believed of me, before you finish this allow me to speak. "
> 
> "You are already speaking too much!" he roared. "I've no desire to hear your lies, Ezzarian." I didn't need to see him to know he was scowling. But he did not strike, as I'd half expected him to.
> 
> "Please," I begged. "I cannot swear on my life. It is in your hands. But I will swear on my people's lives." I thought I heard a gasp from somewhere in the background, almost too faint to be picked up even by my melydda-sharpened hearing. "I am yours to do with as you wish, and I will not attempt to resist. Let my people be your hostage. All I ask is that you hear me first."
> 
> "I'll hold all of Ezzaria responsible." Sharply.
> 
> "I am fully aware, my lord. I hold no delusions as to your character." Then I held my breath; that last had been too close to what passed for a normal conversation between us. He would not take it well. If I had ruined everything with one too-familiar remark ...
> 
> Aleksander was silent for a long moment. Then, slowly, miraculously, he lowered his sword. "I'll not trust anything you say," he sneered. "But not even you would betray your own people."
> 
> I very nearly laughed then. He had no idea.
> 
> And I told him. Told him all, from the start, there in that empty temple. I held nothing back. I had ransomed myself to him, and there was nothing else I could do but offer up everything and hope he would understand.
> 
> No: hope his pride would allow him to understand.
> 
> I told him about my son and Ysanne, about Blaise and his damnable inability to understand Derzhi values, about the Yvor Lukash and who they truly were, about everything I'd hoped to accomplish. I told him of the demon I had met, about the suspicions I'd begun to have, the doubts and dreams that plagued me. I told him things I had never dared speak, things I had not fully articulated even to myself.
> 
> Fiona, still hidden, must be hearing all of this too. I could not care about that, could care about nothing but the man who held my life in his hand, who held my people's lives, my people's future in his furious, volatile grasp.
> 
> He listened. He said not a word to any of it, just listened, and I was grateful for it.
> 
> Finally, finally, my long rambling tale reached its end. I did not give Lydia away; that was the one secret I kept. Whatever happened now, she deserved better than that from me.
> 
> He slapped me straight across the face.
> 
> "Even now you are lying," he said. There was a curious undertone in his voice that I couldn't quite decipher. "My wife, that damnable she-devil - she promised to help you, didn't she?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Of course she did. She always ..."
> 
> I said nothing. I could not deny it, could not bring myself to speak that lie to his face again, yet would not confirm.
> 
> "Druya's horns!" I felt him shift uncomfortably; swearing by a god's name in that god's very temple could not be comfortable even for one so sure in his own skin as Aleksander. "How am I to believe anything you say!"
> 
> I swallowed. "Please, my lord," I managed. "Do not ask this of me."
> 
> He made some frustrated gesture. "Seyonne. This is your last chance."
> 
> I bowed my head and in my heart begged the princess's forgiveness. He knew already; surely my testimony could not make things worse for her. Surely ... "Yes," I rasped. "Yes, she did."
> 
> A sigh, deep, relieved. "I thought ..." In the silence, the metal slide of his sword into its sheath echoed loudly. Then suddenly his hands were on my shoulders, and he pulled me up. "If as much was at stake as you claimed ..."
> 
> I understood, then. If my claims were true, I would not dare fail even for Lydia's sake. I swallowed around the lump in my throat.
> 
> He laughed, humourlessly. "Stubborn, foolish, hard-headed ... the both of us." He thumped me on the shoulder. "I meant it, you know. I would have done all of what I threatened."
> 
> "I would not have blamed you, my lord."
> 
> "No, you wouldn't have, would you?" There was a smile in his voice now. "It is true, then. You are the man I know."

Many things are possible in Druya's temple.


End file.
